Issue 16, the 5.9-mill school levy, was the first operating levy for the school district in seven years, three years longer than the 2006 levy was expected to last. The levy was estimated to cost $15 per month per $100,000 in home valuation.

School administrators estimated the levy failed by around just 60 votes. They weren't sure that number would be close enough to force the issue into an automatic recount, which requires the results difference to be just 0.5 percent.

Advertisement

"The first and most important thing for me to express is gratitude for those who came out to vote and support what we're doing as a school district," Superintendent Dan Keenan said. "Obviously, it's disappointing the levy didn't pass, but at the end of the day we're here to provide the schools that our community desires."

Over the past two years the school district has lost more than $4.2 million in state funding, forcing the district to cut 17 positions, reducing programming, eliminating high school busing and reducing building budgets.

Keenan said more cuts will now be necessary.

"We're definitely going to have to make some reductions and cuts here to follow the right way to budget and make sure we continue the fiscal responsibility we've had," Keenan said. "We have to plan for the fall the right way, we'll get to work knowing that."

Keenan also said the district will use the levy's failure as a learning experience and will listen to the community's feedback.

"We'll go back, as we always do, and take the feedback we've received and put it to good use," Keenan said. "We'll make decisions that will lead to support. Westlake's been a supportive community of its schools for a long time, and it's also a community where people want their input heard. We're going to use that input."

Keenan said school administrators will begin talking about what cuts will be made at the next board of education meeting, scheduled for May 13. He also said the school will start by cutting around $1 million from its budget.

The mood was much different for the administration of Porter Library.

"Our figures tell us that we won by 70 percent," Director Andrew Mangels said. "We've had a five-year levy in this city since 1975, and we've never passed by more than 62 percent. As you can imagine, we're ecstatic."

Issue 15 was a renewal of the library's current five-year 2.8-mill operating levy that was set to expire at the end of this year. The five-year renewal will continue to provide around 75 percent of the library's funding.

"I think it says that more than ever the community values their public library and understands what an important resource it is," Mangels said.

Mangels feels that the work the library staff puts in for the community is a big reason of why the levy passed.

"We've won this levy every single day for the past five years with the staff of Porter Public Library," he said. "Our staff has provided a service that people come back for."